In remarks to the media on Sunday, President Trump made it clear he will continue to use the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk as grounds to investigate those he sees as his political foes. In fact, he suggested, that work is already underway.
“The problem is on the left — if you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right like some people like to say. The problem we have is on the left,” he told reporters Sunday. “And when you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speak so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left, that’s not the right.”
“They’re already under investigation. They’re already under major investigation,” Trump continued. “A lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left — already under investigation.”
It remains unclear who exactly the Trump administration is “already” investigating in the wake of Kirk’s killing, beyond the work the FBI is doing to investigate the attack. But Trump and his allies began agitating around the idea that some amorphous liberal blob was to blame for the killing even before a suspect was identified. While law enforcement is still working to establish a motive for the assassination, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has repeatedly asserted that the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, had “leftist ideology,” as well as stating that Robinson acted alone.
Trump’s Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tossed off some details about this impending crackdown on “the left” further on Monday, as Vance hosted an episode of Kirk’s podcast broadcasting from the White House. Vance was joined by Miller and some of Kirk’s other friends, like ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Vance said that the administration is working on ways to “dismantle the institutions that promote violence and terrorism in our own country” and said they would “explore every option to bring real unity to our country and stop those who would kill their fellow Americans because they don’t like what they say.”
Miller took things in a uniquely sinister direction. He announced that there would soon be a formal effort by the federal government to begin rooting out what he claimed was a “domestic terror movement” in the U.S. He said that it would all be done in Kirk’s name.
“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, eliminate and destroy this network and make America safe again for the American people,” he said.
Vance Encourages Right-Wingers to Report People to Their Bosses
Just as Miller claimed that there is some sort of nameless leftist network working in coordination to organize “doxing campaigns, the organized riots, the organized street violence,” Vance encouraged those listening to target anyone and everyone who might post something on social media criticizing Kirk’s far-right extremist viewpoints.
“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. Hell, call their employer. We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility, and there is no civility in the celebration of political assassination,” he said.
Vance Floats Specific Groups For His Allies to Target
From WaPo’s coverage of the podcast episode:
Vance called out the “generous tax treatment” that George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation receive as he accused the groups of funding a “disgusting article” in the Nation magazine that he said was used to justify Kirk’s death.
Vance’s effort to link the two foundations to the article appears to be inaccurate. The Ford Foundation last provided a grant to the Nation for an internship program in 2019 but has not provided money since, according to online records. Bhaskar Sunkara, the president of the Nation, said on X that the publication had never received funds from the Open Society Foundations. Vance’s office, asked about his accusation, provided a link to a report about the Nation by a conservative group, which in turn cited a 2017 report about Open Society Foundations grants.
Trump to Congressional Republicans: Get In Line
House Republican leadership is planning to put a “clean” short-term continuing resolution on the floor this week to keep the government open until the week before Thanksgiving. The CR would reportedly not include any Democratic demands, including extending the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits.
Both House and Senate Democratic leadership have said they will not vote for a CR that does not include health care provisions.
“House Democrats will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a Monday statement.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump — who recently said Republicans should not “bother dealing with” Democrats’ demands — took to Truth Social on Monday to whip Republicans who may be against the short-term CR into shape.
“In times like these, Republicans have to stick TOGETHER to fight back against the Radical Left Democrat demands, and vote “YES!” on both Votes needed to pass a Clean CR this week out of the House of Representatives,” President Trump posted on Truth Social Monday. “Democrats want the Government to shut down. Republicans want the Government to OPEN.”
Legislation to fund the government, of course, requires 60 votes in the Senate. Even though President Trump has been dismissing the idea, Republicans will need at least a handful of Democrats to join them. It’s possible the president is ignoring that reality because he wants a shutdown he can try to blame on Democrats.
— Emine Yücel
In Case You Missed It
Republicans Are Using an Arcane Oversight Rule to Permanently Dismantle Federal Land Protections
Kirk’s Posthumous and Paradoxically Fitting Employment Reign of Terror
Trumpist Right Launches Purge of Anyone Who Dares Criticize Charlie Kirk
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
What We Are Reading
First came the wildfire. Then came the scams.
Disgruntled NYT journalist to ‘anti-woke’ power grab: how far can Bari Weiss go?
As much as I hate Trump, a post-Trump Vance administration with Stephen Miller in charge would be about as fun as a bath in battery acid.
From the statements of the president and the vice president:
“The problem is on the left — if you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right like some people like to say. The problem we have is on the left,” he told reporters Sunday. “And when you look at the agitators, you look at the scum…”
Real Americans, those Republicans.
Maybe this is a political move that our president learned from his friend at the summit in Alaska.
They really know what this country was created for… and how to make America great again. /s
“Almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing,” said Trump … the extremist group Proud Boys celebrated what some of its members saw as tacit approval.”
The Dems have to stay together on this and stand against it. If the Right is going to paint us as terrorists, we should at least be able to find the backbone to stand up to the true terrorists.
When in hell is the media going to stop pushing the lie that the left are the ones fomenting the violence? There’s little to no evidence of truth to this, but the right is consistently supported by silence in the media when they go on about this.
I am sure that he would be happy to arrange that.